Watch: RFK Jr. Says 'Full-Term' Abortions Should Be Allowed, Doesn't Want to 'Leave It to the States'
UPDATE, May 20, 2024: This article has been revised to include Robert F. Kennedy’s May 10 statement in which he changed his stance on late-term abortions.
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
In 2020 and 2021, as COVID-19 vaccine mandates rolled out across the country, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. found a receptive audience among many Republicans for his vehement opposition to the enforcement of such regulations.
Kennedy, through his nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, railed against vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions, such as masking and lockdowns — a platform that resonated with conservatives, as noted by The Associated Press.
In October, RJK Jr. announced he was running for president as an independent candidate.
A Politico analysis of his campaign finances a month later revealed that he was drawing more support from past Republican donors than Democrats, many of whom saw him as conservative-leaning because of his strong stance against vaccine mandates.
But Kennedy’s political stances are far from conservative.
During an interview with podcast host Sage Steele released on May 8, he made one of the most radical statements any presidential candidate has ever made.
When asked whether he would support states deciding “if and when a woman can have an abortion” following the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Kennedy responded, “I wouldn’t leave it to the states.”
“You wouldn’t? … You would say completely — it’s up to the woman?” the former ESPN host asked him.
“I believe we should leave it to the woman,” Kennedy responded. “We shouldn’t have government involved.”
“Even if it’s full term?” Steele pressed.
“Even if it’s full term,” Kennedy said.
His blatant admission that he is in favor of removing all restrictions on abortions, even on full-term babies, shocked even his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, according to NBC News.
A week before the podcast episode was released, Shanahan also made an appearance on Steele’s podcast and was asked whether she supported Kennedy’s views on abortion.
“My understanding with Bobby’s position is that, you know, every abortion is a tragedy, is a loss of life,” she said. “My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and we’ve talked about this.”
On May 10, Kennedy shifted his abortion stance under pressure from his campaign, NBC News reported.
In a statement posted to social media, he said, “I had been assuming that virtually all late-term abortions were such cases, but I’ve learned that my assumption was wrong. Sometimes, women abort healthy, viable late-term fetuses. These cases of purely ‘elective’ late-term abortion are very upsetting.”
“I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point,” Kennedy said. “I believe that point should be when the baby is viable outside the womb. Therefore I would allow appropriate restrictions on abortion in the final months of pregnancy, just as Roe v. Wade did.”
Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus — abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter. Even in the reddest of red states, voters reject total abortion bans. And on the other…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 11, 2024
While RFK Jr.’s initial stance on abortion may have been his most shocking admission yet, many of his opinions are entirely antithetical to the conservative cause — and, as he did with abortion, he has sought to tone them down to appeal to the right.
One only has to glance at his campaign website before it was revised to understand how far left the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy is.
For instance, the original “Racial Healing” page said federal tax dollars should be set aside to rebuild “Black infrastructure” that was targeted by “racists.”
It has been updated to say, “Increased access to investment capital for a robust, self-sustaining Black business infrastructure.”
On “police reform,” Kennedy’s website said his administration would “reorient police to serve, not occupy, Black communities; to keep neighborhoods safe rather than harassing their residents.”
That too has been revised. It now has four different bullet points.
His website also says he would “[m]ake student debt dischargeable in bankruptcy and cut interest rates on student loans to zero.”
Implement some form of student debt relief. Allow student debt to be dischargeable in bankruptcy. Cut interest rates on student loans to zero.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 27, 2023
In a strange way, Kennedy’s lack of media coverage — due in large part to the mainstream media’s unwillingness to give him a platform that would contrast him with President Joe Biden — has worked to his advantage.
The fact that he has been drawing GOP support despite his radical stances on so many issues critical to Republicans shows that he is benefiting from ignorance.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
While RFK Jr. may have made some good arguments in the fight for bodily autonomy from vaccine mandates, his stances on other issues are radical even by Democrats’ standards.
For those on the right transfixed by Kennedy’s anti-mandate activism, his latest comments on abortion should be the slap in the face they need to wake up.
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